1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact used in connecting boards of a switching unit or the like, and a high-density connector using this contact.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the fitting state of a conventional board-to-board connector. The high-density connector is constituted by a male connector and a female connector. The male connector has a male connector housing 12 and a plurality of male terminals 71 locked in it. The female connector has a female connector housing 11 and a plurality of female terminals 73 having at their distal end portions elastic tongue pieces that respectively come into contact with the individual male terminals 71 to be fitted with them. Reference numeral 74 denotes a columnar L-shaped terminal 74 connected to the corresponding female terminal 73.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6 of Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 62-158722, to obtain a female terminal used in board-to-board connection or the like, a pair of elastic tongue pieces 65-1 and 65-2, and an external connection terminal 62 are formed by press-punching an elastic metal plate, and a cylindrical portion and the U-shaped bent portions at the distal ends of the elastic tongue pieces are formed by pressing. Conventionally, this female terminal is inserted and locked in the female terminal insertion window of a synthetic resin connector housing used for board-to-board connection or the like.
FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views showing the fitting states of conventional male and female terminals.
As shown in FIG. 3, when inserting the male terminal 71 in a female terminal insertion window 11a of the connector housing 11 for the female terminal 73, elastic tongue pieces 72 of the female terminal 73 come into contact with the male terminal 71, and are displaced substantially perpendicularly to the inserting direction of the male terminal 71.
The first problem of the prior art is as follows. When inserting the male terminal 71 in the female terminal insertion window 11a, the elastic tongue pieces 72 of the female terminal 73 come into contact with the male terminal 71. Since distal-end outer-side portions 72a of the elastic tongue pieces 72 project, they can easily interfere with an female terminal insertion window inner wall 11b of the connector housing 11. When designing the connector, a width W.sub.2 of the female terminal insertion window 11a must be designed widely considering the amount of displacement of the elastic tongue pieces 72.
The second problem is as follows. When the male terminal 71 is to be inserted through an inner wall lid of a male terminal insertion port 11c of the connector housing 11, it must be reliably received by the male terminal receiving port between the two distal ends of the pair of elastic tongue pieces 72. If the depth of the male terminal insertion port 11c is decreased to downsize the connector, or if the insertion lock positions of the elastic tongue pieces 72 are set shallow to obtain electrical connection sequence, when fitting the male terminal 71 and female terminal 73 with each other, in the prior art, the allowable fluctuation of the distal end of the male terminal 71 becomes large, and a male terminal receiving port width G of the female terminal 73 must be designed large within the range of the predetermined width W.sub.2 of the female terminal insertion window 11a. This is because each elastic tongue piece 72 is bent into a U-shape and that its distal-end outer-side portion 72a projects perpendicularly to the inserting direction of the male terminal 71.